


Doppelganger

by nichelium



Category: Thunderbolt Fantasy 東離劍遊紀 (TV)
Genre: Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-01
Updated: 2019-05-01
Packaged: 2020-02-10 23:53:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18670954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nichelium/pseuds/nichelium
Summary: “Well, isn’t this interesting?” Lin Xue Ya said.“Interesting for you, maybe,” Shang Bu Huan said.“Of course you’d get a kick out of this,” the other Shang Bu Huan said.A spirit tries to pass itself off as Shang. Lin must figure out who's real.





	Doppelganger

**Author's Note:**

> Hewwo Thunderbolt Fantasy fandom... please accept my humble offering... I love these puppets with all my heart. Here's some fantasy-trope fluff

“Well, isn’t this interesting?” Lin Xue Ya said.

“Interesting for  _ you _ , maybe,” Shang Bu Huan said.

“Of course  _ you’d _ get a kick out of this,” the other Shang Bu Huan said.

Lin and Shang had been traveling through a spiritually dense forest. The full moon shone blue upon the labyrinthine foliage as eerie cracks and groans sounded an unknowable distance away. Perhaps it was inadvisable, for most, to cross this forest at night. The two of them, though, were more than enough to deal with most any ghoul or monster that they came across. As long as they kept up their vigilance, they’d easily make it through unscathed.

But Lin had trotted ahead for a moment to pick an interesting three-petaled flower, glowing stark white in the light of the moon. That lapse in judgement left him turning around to see an extra Shang Bu Huan.

“It seems a shapeshifting spirit has taken up your countenance, Sir Shang.” He addressed the statement to both of them. It was impossible to tell at a glance which one was the genuine article; perhaps it would be impossible to tell, period, no matter how close an examination he gave them. “So, the real Shang Bu Huan is…?”

“Me,” they both said in unison. 

As expected. Lin rolled the flower he’d picked through his fingers. “If I can’t tell which of you is the real Shang from your appearances, I suppose I’ll just have to ask you both a series of increasingly personal questions,” he said.

They both groaned. “Lin, how does that--”

“Why would you even--”

“Of course, of course,” he cut them off. They were both responding to him as Shang would. “I’ll ask just one question. What’s the object that caused you to journey to Dong Li?”

Another answer in unison -- “The sorcerous sword index.”

“I see.” If they both knew that, then the spirit had a way of getting such knowledge. Any more personal questions would be useless. Lin looked down at the flower in his hand, and before either Shang could act, he tucked it behind the ear of one of them. When he reached to remove it, Lin said, “Now, now, don’t go touching that. I have to tell you apart somehow, don’t I? If you make that harder for me, I may just think you’re the spirit.” Beflowered-Shang sighed, but left it. Lin smiled, pleased with himself. “How to determine who is real, though…”

Unflowered-Shang spoke up. “I don’t particularly want to, but I’m pretty sure I could beat any copycat ghoul in a fight.” His hand was on his sword.

The other Shang mimicked the action.

Lin barely had a moment to step back before swords were drawn, meeting with the  _ thunk _ of wood hitting wood. Lin watched the battle unfold, copied wooden blade meeting original in a flurry of perfectly mirrored strikes. Neither had intent to kill -- of course, Shang wouldn’t dare hurt a spirit that may be sapient when he could incapacitate it. It was pointless, though; they were evenly matched. They realized this, and both sheathed their blades.

“Maybe it’s fine,” said the beflowered Shang. He must’ve been moving quite carefully to not dislodge the ornament. “Maybe we can just have two of me. I’ve always thought I’d be my own best drinking buddy.”

The other Shang snorted. “I’m sure Lin would like that. Twice as many of me to boss around.” They both laughed at that.

“As much fun as I could have with both of you,” Lin said, coming closer now that there wasn’t a chance he’d be hit by a wayward blow, “I’m afraid spirits such as this one rarely have such kind intentions. It’s likely going to attempt to kill and replace you. Though, it may be a kind variety which will only siphon your energy through its proximity until you’re nothing but a husk.”

They both grimaced at that, then turned to the other. “If it’s got my mind, my stuff…”

The unflowered Shang added, “Don’t forget my fighting skills.”

“Yeah. if it’s just like me, how’re we gonna get rid of this thing?”

“It’s copied your belongings, but can it copy the enchantments on them? Why don’t you try taking something out of the Index?” Lin suggested.

Both Shangs side-eyed him.

“I promise my motives are nothing but pure,” Lin said. “I won’t steal a thing.”

The two Shangs shared a glance, and Lin briefly thought it must be nice to have someone who understood you so well. Both took out a scroll from their robes. Eyeing how the other did so, they each sorted through the Index, and in a flash of light, retrieved identical swords.

Lin approached the Shang with the flower and tentatively reached out. Shang noticed, and, just as tentatively, handed the sword to him. 

He turned the blade over in his hand, felt along the characters carved into the sheath. 

He slashed at the other Shang, unsheathing and thrusting in a single swift movement. The being disappeared, leaving nothing but a cloud of shimmering, ectoplasmic dust. He sheathed the sword and handed it back to the remaining, real, Shang, who was nonplussed. 

“How’d you figure it out?” Shang asked.

Lin plucked the flower from Shang’s hair. “The moonglow trillium is quite an interesting flower. It only grows in areas of high spiritual energy, and yet, when it comes into contact with too much of this energy, it withers. Why would it grow somewhere it can be so easily poisoned?” He tossed the flower through the wafting dust. It was brown before it even hit the ground.

“So you knew it was me as soon as you put that flower on me?” Shang said, sighing. “Then what was the point of all the questions and fighting?”

As they talked, the two of them continued to make their way through the forest. “Sir Shang,” Lin chided, “surely you know me well enough by now to know that I’d never pass up a chance to have you dance like a puppet on my strings.”

Shang groaned. “If one of those things copies you, I’m leaving you  _ both  _ behind.”

“If one of them copied me, I’m sure we’d have an excellent time together,” Lin said.

Shang was lost in that unpleasant thought for a moment, his pace slowing. He closed his eyes and shook his head to clear his mind, but when he looked back up, he stopped in his tracks.

Lin turned around to look at him. “What is it, Sir Shang?” he asked.

“Are you feeling well, Sir Shang?” The other Lin Xue Ya asked.


End file.
